Making Faster and Smarter Decisions in 2023

Times are changing rapidly and it can be hard to adapt. As a result, business leaders need to be capable of faster decision-making to keep up with the pace of the culture. But it can be hard to suddenly pivot when you’ve been used to doing things a certain way for a long time.

Here are a few tips for smart decision-making that will help business leaders prepare for 2023.

How to Make Quicker Decisions?

Making quick decisions isn’t just about going with the first idea that pops into your head. It’s about simplifying your thought processes and training your mind to think harder about what’s essential and disregard all the trivial nonsense that will distract you from your mission. Here’s how to make quicker decisions without rushing or making careless mistakes.

Focus on the Essential

Executives and managers have to make so many minute decisions on a daily basis that it can be easy to get overwhelmed. But if you put the same amount of time and effort into deciding what coffee to keep in the break room as you do about the direction of your next product launch, you’re going to have some problems.

So it’s important to identify which decisions are the most essential and focus 90% of your attention on the most pressing matters while leaving the other 10% to the other trivial details.

Don’t let the Great Be the Enemy of the Good

If you want to learn how to make fast decisions, you need to learn to let go of the idea of perfect. You may not always have time to wait until the ideal scenario presents itself and it may be better to go with the decent option that’s in front of you.

Jeff Bezos once told his shareholders ” Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70 percent of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90 percent, in most cases, you’re probably being slow”. So at times, it’s better to act than to hesitate even if you aren’t 100% sure of the outcome. Otherwise, you may miss the opportunity altogether.

Set a Decision Quota

If you try to focus your energies but still feel overwhelmed, you may decide to set a decision quota for yourself to conserve your brain power. Every time you make a decision, you’re using a certain amount of mental energy. That’s why we start to experience burnout when we are overwhelmed with different choices.

If you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed, set a limit to a certain number of decisions you’ll allow yourself to make in a day and stick to it. Setting a quota will help you conserve your energy for important decisions and make faster choices at the moment when it really counts.

Making Smart Decisions Takes Careful Consideration

Making crucial decisions isn’t all about thinking fast. If you want to avoid mistakes that you’ll later regret, you’ll need to be able to weigh your options carefully and decide which has more long-term potential. But you’ll need to simplify this process so you can still maintain the pace necessary to keep your ship running. Here are a few ways you can learn how to make smart decisions without sacrificing speed.

Simplify the Chain of Command

It isn’t always wise to go with the first decision that comes to mind. Sometimes you need to take a moment to weigh your options and make the most educated decision possible in the shortest amount of time. If times are changing rapidly, you may not be able to rely on what worked in the past.

Instead, you should compare what used to work against what has changed and also consider other solutions that your business partners or competitors have made that have been successful. Analyzing the problem from multiple angles and looking at different perspectives will show you how to make faster decisions that actually work.

How to Make Smart Money Decisions

Smart decision-making isn’t always about making better products and services. It’s also about ensuring that you make the right decisions about money so your company stays profitable. You may have an amazing concept and product design, but if the finances aren’t in order, then you will have a hard time executing your vision. So it’s important to learn how to make smart money decisions in addition to working at a faster pace.

Here are a few tips to help you make smarter money decisions:

• Set a budget and stick to it
• Keep your debt under control
• Maintain a healthy cash reserve for emergencies
• Save room in your budget for research and innovation
• Find a healthy balance between planning for today and tomorrow
• Use big data to make smarter decisions

There are many ways that companies can streamline their financial processes and make better decisions about their money. It all comes down to identifying the critical areas that need investment and making sure they are properly funded, while still setting aside enough money for savings and investment in the future. If you can master that balance, you are well on your way to success.

Faster Decision Making Requires You to Be Comfortable With the Unknown

While there are ways that you can improve your ability to analyze data faster and cut out distractions that may slow down your process, ultimately, faster decision-making requires you to be comfortable with the unknown. You can only predict so much and if you want to improve the time it takes to make a decision, you’ll have to learn to rely on your gut.

No matter what you do, you’re going to be wrong a certain percentage of the time. But in the business world, speed and agility will always win out. 

Learning to be comfortable with the fact that your going to be wrong about 25% of the time and still being able to make key decisions without hesitation will help you learn how to make quick decisions under pressure.

If you make rational decisions based on the data you have available, you’ll still be right the majority of the time. Even when you’re wrong, you can look at it as an important learning experience that will help you make better decisions in the future.